Where Liberalism Is Alive and Well!

Day: October 11, 2012

I watched the same debate as everyone else on October 3, 2012, but for some reason, I was one of the few who wasn’t wowed by Mitt Romney’s “style” and slick used car salesman techniques. I’ll admit, as President Obama did, that he didn’t bring his A game that night. And I’ll also admit that Romney was slicker than hammered dogshit while telling his lies. He did it with nice hair, a square jaw and, with passion, was able to look his audience in the eyes and brazenly lie without any hint of remorse or acknowledgement that he was telling blatant falsehoods. He has no shame whatsoever.

Looking past the optics, I heard many things that made me sit up in my Lazyboy. The following exchange was one of the big ones.

President Obama: …And part of the way to do it is to not give tax breaks to companies that are shipping jobs overseas. Right now you can actually take a deduction for moving a plant overseas. I think most Americans would say that doesn’t make sense. And all that raises revenue.

Governor Romney: The second topic, which is you said you get a deduction for getting a plant overseas. Look, I’ve been in business for 25 years. I have no idea what you’re talking about. I maybe need to get a new accountant.

There are a couple of things wrong with Romney’s response to the idea that corporations can get tax breaks for shipping jobs overseas.

First, what he was saying is if he knew about tax breaks for shipping jobs overseas, he would have done it himself. He might as well have said, “holy shit, there’s a tax dodge that I wasn’t aware of, fire my accountant immediately!” Cuz, you know, he likes firing people.

Second, from what I’ve read about how Bain Capital operated, there is a damn good chance that he actually did take advantage of that tax loophole. I hope someone is looking into that, where’s Mother Jones when you need her?

When you step back and look at Romney’s life, business record and the many different positions he has taken on all sides of every issue, the picture becomes clear. He has no moral compass, contrary to the image of a faithful Mormon he has cloaked himself with. In the very first ad for the general election, he plucked a quote from an Obama speech where candidate Obama was quoting John McCain (“if we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose”) and attributed it to Obama himself. When he was confronted on it, his response was…

“It was instead to point out what’s sauce for the goose is now sauce for the gander,” Romney told reporters. “He spoke about the economy being a huge burden for John McCain. This ad points out, guess what, it’s now your turn. The same lines you used on John McCain are now going to be used on you, which is that this economy is going to be your albatross.”

He doesn’t seem to understand the problem with attributing a quote to someone who didn’t say it. If this were an isolated incident, it would be one thing. But Mitt Romney has lied his way through the campaign like no candidate in our nations history. The debate was no different, he told both old and new lies but was still declared the winner. It’s a sad day in America when such blatant dishonesty is ignored because, as one of the hyperventilaters on MSNBC said after the debate (about Romney), “he acted like he wanted to be President!”